Basswood - Too old and/or dry?

[Gblueline]

I also am new to carving. I have a basswood "plaque" blank. I was beginning to practice chip carving. My question is: My knife is supposedly sharp and honed from the factory - however when i make the first basic triangle cuts it seems to be very hard to cut. The lines are not clean either; it's very discouraging.

Could it be that the wood is too dry - will that make it difficult to cut correctly?

Any suggestions?

Thank you,'

Glenn

[Mitchell]

Glenn,

It could be the wood but it's difficult to tell just from your post. Maybe someone with more chip carving experience can help. When carving in-the-round on difficult wood, I will wet it with 1:1 water/alcohol (if I don't decide to chunk it instead). I'm not sure that this will help on chip carving however.

Many knifes do need to be 'touched up' even though they come honed from the factory.

[richipper]

Glenn, I agree with Mitchell. It could be the wood. Try to soften th wood a bit. The alcohol water mix might work. I have also try an old trick of sealing the wood in a container with a slice of fresh bread over night. But the knife could be the problem too. What brand is it and can you send a picture of the edge?
I had to resharpen mine ... and I thought it was factory sharp.
Richard

[Gblueline]

Thanks guys! I will take a closeup of the knife edge tonight and send it.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[medicinedog]

What if you tried carving a new quality piece of basswood with your knife honed as is, wouldn't that tell you? Just sayin' Lar

[Gblueline]

OK - I took someone's advice and bought some basswood from Heineke Wood Products...
WOW ...WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!
Anyone who bought wood from one of the national Arts & Crafts chain stores - return it if you haven't opened it yet! The wood from Heineke is like cutting through butter compared to the retail "garbage"! I have just tired chip carving and i can't belirve its the same knife!

[Bob K.]

Heinecke sells top grade northern basswood while a lot of the basswood sold through Arts & Crafts stores is often southern basswood...and there is a big difference between the two. Northern basswoos carves far better than southern basswood. In the future you always want to buy northern basswood...from a reputable supplier like Heinecke.

[Paul_Guraedy]

I don't think good basswood can get too old or dry. The basswood grown here in the Ozarks is good wood............but not for carving!

A month or two ago, after the ticks, chiggers and copperheads had gone to sleep for the winter: I went rooting around in the old building where I stash my "going to use someday" wood. I need to plan projects and pull the wood out of there in the winter as these "guardians" do not tend to distinguish the owner from those with less artistic activities in mind.

I found a 2" thick single block that measured something over 2'x2'. Tried it out with my "relatively" sharp pocket knife and it carved beautifully. Then came the surprise! This piece had to be old. Don't know what a piece like this would cost these days, but the Heinecke price was $7.50.